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The use of a common gold-based trading currency can serve as a genuine means of unity among the OIC states, encouraging inter-OIC trade and giving them a single trade currency.
IT HAS been hailed as the most important event since the Bretton Woods
Agreement. Others have gone further, citing the Gold Dinar as the most
important event since the Osmanli Khalifate was dismantled at the
beginning of the last century.
Certainly, for the Muslim world, the Malaysian initiative to use the
Gold Dinar for international trade settlements is a pivotal event on which
the future balance of world power may turn.
The Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham are the traditional Syaria currencies
of the Muslim world. They are mentioned in the al-Qur'an, and in the Sahih
hadith collections. They are clearly part of the Prophetic Sunnah and form
the classical basis for calculations of zakat and all other financial
aspects of Syaria law. The Gold Dinar is 4.25 grams of gold, and the
Dirham is 2.975 grams of silver.
They were in use throughout the Muslim world until they were eclipsed by
the advent of paper money and modern usury-banking techniques.
Moving forward, there is room for expansion. The Asian financial crisis
in 1997-98 brought home a couple of pointers for affected countries. One
can sum up a five-fold message. High on the list is that paper currencies
have no real value, but merely numbers printed on paper. Second, the
nations had a taste of the unstable and unjust global financial system.
The other messages were:
* Developing nations have little...